I wanted Atlanta United to come out of this World Cup break and make me feel positive emotions. I longed to carry some of the World Cup vibes back into MLS, chomping at the bit to witness the Five Stripes play a match away from home and pull out a success story. I won’t sit here and pretend the match was terrible, in fact, it was arguably a slight improvement in some areas, but Atlanta can ill afford to go anywhere else in this season without results. They got beat 1-0 by a very good Nashville side, off a cross and header that happens 100 times a day in competitive leagues the world over, but they have absolutely no leeway from fans for “almost” or “getting better.” Here are the final whistle thoughts from Atlanta United’s return to play up in Music City.
Finishing
Maybe it’s because of the eight matches I’ve recently witnessed in person at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but the struggle in and around the box for someone in an Atlanta United kit to actually pull the trigger on a shot was painful to watch. The Five Stripes actually did a decent job of moving the ball into the final third and subsequently into dangerous areas, but once they arrived, they still lacked any real threat.
We’ve talked about it at length on the podcast and here on the site, but while the defensive signings are hopefully a net benefit for this team, Atlanta United needs some significant attacking threat. It’s still too loose and too slow, and as I type this, Latte Lath just got played in on goal and completely missed the target…entirely. Changes have to be made sooner than later.
A touch more discipline?
I won’t sit here and pretend one match will give anyone a broad enough lens to make any sweeping analysis about an Atlanta United squad that’s frankly been terrible for the last 18 months, for it’s the hope that kills you, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I acted like this was phenomenal soccer. But it was a marginal improvement in some areas, most noticeably the connectors between the smaller groups of players as they made Nashville chase the ball, keeping possession in a hostile environment. One large X-factor going into this game was always whether or not Tata Martino could change mindsets and habits of the squad he currently has available, the same one that’s led the team to the bottom of the table, during the World Cup break.
At minimum, the team looked better drilled, and it appeared the chemistry was improved. Couple that with a few new signings and maybe the light really is visible at the end of the tunnel? I mean, it’s not like Atlanta was blown out tonight.
The youth pipeline is churning
In a somewhat shocking turn of events an hour before the opening whistle, Latte Lath was revealed to be on the bench in favor of one Luke Brennan. His fellow youths joined him, with Matt Edwards, Jay Fortune, and Cooper Sanchez rounding off a group of diehard Atlanta guys who kept a good Nashville side honest. Unfortunately, Jay would go down after a generational run only ten minutes in with a hamstring issue, but it would be another young Atlanta man in Will Reilly who’d take his place.
The first half consisted of some tit-for-tat soccer, which says more for Atlanta than Nashville, and it’d be Luke Brennan who’d have one of the best chances of the match for Atlanta United only 15 minutes into the second half. He didn’t have a ton of touches, but he was consistently a pest, working alongside Alexey Miranchuk to irritate Nashville’s backline. The rest of the youngins played as if they were hungry, with a touch more class than we’ve seen in the attack. Unfortunately, the attack was still mostly toothless, with the finishing ability of a stormtrooper, which is exactly why Atlanta lost this match.
Let us know down below what you thought of the match!
More failure. Why does Spector still have a job?
Please please please sell Latte Lath and get a productive striker. We have a lot of defects other than that, but this game is a draw or even a win with a striker that can actually get to good spots and put shots on target.